The present invention relates generally to animal husbandry and, more particularly, to animal feeding devices.
Feeding dogs has never been easy. Food bowls placed directly on the ground are often kicked and knocked over by passersby, making a mess. If that were not enough, spilled food lures ants and other insects to the area. Once in the vicinity, it is not long before the insects invade the bowl and render its contents unfit for a dog to eat.
Some have proposed bowls with water-filled moats as a way to prevent climbing insects from reaching food set out for a dog. Others have proposed that bowls be placed on stands to elevate them from the ground. Neither of these proposals has gained much consumer acceptance or commercial success since insects still seem to gain access to a dog""s food.
In light of the problems associated with the known apparatus for feeding dogs and other animals, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a feeder that allows an animal easy access to food in a bowl yet prevents access to all sorts of climbing insects. Insects attempting to gain access to the bowl are trapped and killed in a manner that is safe to animals feeding at the feeder.
It is another object of the invention to provide an animal feeder of the type described that may be adjusted so that animals of different sizes comfortably can use it.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an animal feeder that prevents precipitation from falling upon the food positioned in it.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in an animal feeder for the purposes described which is lightweight in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and dependable in use.
Briefly, the animal feeder in accordance with this invention achieves the intended objects by featuring a food bowl suspended at the end of a gooseneck post. The bowl is shielded from the weather by a parasol-like cover. A number of insect traps are positioned along the length of the post. Two of the traps comprise closed containers having funnel-like passages in their bottoms into which insects can enter but not exit. A liquid insect attractant is placed in the bottoms of the containers to drown the insects that enter. Another of the traps has a plurality of vertically stacked funnel-like passages within it, each being accompanied by a liquid reservoir to drown insects.